Ventilation system for automobiles and the like



Jan. 10, 1956 1.. s. GREENMUN 2,730,032

VENTILATION SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES AND THE LIKE Original Filed Feb. 25,1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATT OHN I17 Y Jan. 10, 1956 L. s. GREENMUN2,730,032

VENTILATION SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES AND THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Original Filed Feb. 25, 1948 JNVENTOR. LED 6. GREENMUN Wan- ATTORNEYUnited States Patent VENTILATION SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES AND THE LIKE LeeS. Greenmun, Cleveland, Ohio Original applicationFebruary 25, 1948,Serial No. 10,645,

now Patent No. 2,634,669, dated April 14, 1953. Divided and thisapplication March 10, 1953, Serial No. 341,581

Claims. (Cl. 98-4) This invention relates, as indicated, to aventilation system for automobiles and the like.

Ventilation systems of the conventional types are charaeterized bynumerous disadvantages. In the cowl type of ventilator, the ventilatoris located out of the path of maximum air fiow, and in an area of lowair pressure, so that the ventilation provided is extremely inefiicient.Air intakes placed along the sides of the hood or body of the ear areinefiicient for substantially the same reasons. The principalconsideration, in each case, is to locate the air intake at the mostconvenient position, and this tendany has resulted in low efiiciency,complicated and costly installations, high installation costs, anddifficult and vexing service problems.

In virtually all instances, the air intakes have the cominon fault thatthey must be closed in hot, humid, rainy weather, to avoid the entry ofwater into the'car. They may be tightly closed when the car is new, butwhen the car has been in service for some period, considerable troubleis experienced in servicing these intakes to maintain them water-tight.Moreover, if the car is left standing for any length of time, dust anddirt accumulate about the vents, and when the vents are opened, theoccupants of the car are showered with this dust and dirt.

In cowl intakes, a. complicated control consisting of levers and linksis required to operate thesame, so that the driver, in order to open orclose the intake, is required to grope for the lever, takes his eyes offthe road, and sometimes turns the steering wheel, thereby creating adriving hazard.

In conventional types of air control boxes or valves, which are in useon several makes of cars, the construction, in most cases, is extremelycomplicated. Most of these embody a myriad of parts, all of which arepoten- "tial sources of rattling and service troubles. On some makes ofcars, a minimum of 8 hours is required at s'ervice stations to installthe control box and heaters. These filter only the air which goes to theblowers. The air passing into the direct air inlet to the space behindthe dashboard of the car is not filtered. These devices moreover, areextremely costly to manufacture, and add 8 to pounds of manufacturedparts to the car.

The present invention has as its primary object the provision of aventilation system for automobiles which overcomes virtually all of theaforesaid disadvantages.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent duringthe course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, andin which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughoutthe same,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of an automobileembodying my novel ventilating system,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of an automobile embodyingthe invention, withportions thereof broken away to better show portionsof the ventilating "system, i

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but on an enlarged scale, showingthe ventilating system in substantially longitudinal cross-section.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the air distributor or air control valve,as seen in the direction indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the air distributor or air controlvalve, as seen in the direction. indicated by the line 5-5 in Fig. 3,with portions broken away to show details of construction,

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary side-elevational view, showing the positioncertain of the parts forming the joint in the air intake tube assumewhen the hood of the automobile is raised,

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view through the control valve, taken onapproximately the line 9--9 of Fig. 4, but with the valve cylinder inthe first position, and

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9, but with the valve cylinder insecond position.

The ventilating system, as herein described, has been designedespecially for the 1946 Chrysler sedan, but it may, with but slightmodifications, be generally adapted to all passenger automobiles.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, and more especially Figs. 1to 8 inclusive thereof, I have illustrated an automobile comprising ahood 1 of the type which is adapted to be raised by rotation thereofabout a horizontal pivot or axis extending transversely to the car, atype which has now come into general use. The cowl of the automobile isdesignated by reference numeral 2, with the fire wall indicated byreference numeral 3.

For the purposes of the present invention, the front portion or face ofthe hood 1 is formed to provide transversely spaced groups or sets oflouvers 4 which 'communi cate with a manifold box or air intake whichismounted on the hood behind the louvers, said air intake comprisinganupper wall 5, a forwardly and downwardly inclined rear wall 6, arearwardly and downwardly inclined bottom 7, and end walls '8 and 9. Atube 10 extends 'vertically downward from a drainage opening 11 in therear portion of the bottom 7, and into a funnel '12, the 'function ofwhich will appear hereinafter.

The upper wall 5 of the air intake box has a large opening 13 thereinand extending upwardly from the wall 5, about this opening is a sheetmetal conduit 14. Seated upon the ledge formed between the conduit '14and the opening 13 is an angle iron frame 15, within which a filter unit16, preferably of the glasswool type, is disposed. This filter isnormally maintained in position by an angle iron frame 17, which issimilar to the frame 15. The wall of the conduit 14 has an opening 18,in its rear and side portions, which opening is normally closed by meansof a door or plate 19. i

In order to permit removal and replacement of the filter unit 16, whennecessary, the frame 17 is rigidly connected to the door 19, so as to beremovable from the conduit 14 when the door is removed. When the frame'17 is thus removed, the filter unit 16 may be lifted and removedthrough the opening 18. In order to insure an air-tight connection ofthe door 19 to the conduit 14, a gasket 20 is interposed between thedoor andthe conduit, as best seen in Figs. 3 and 7.

The conduit 14 is connected to an 'air conduit 21 by means of a coupling22 of the type commonly referred to as a stove-pipe coupling. Theconduit 21 is curved to conform with the general curvature of the hood'1, but gradually diminishes in cross-sectional area, and varies incross-section, being of generally triangular cross-section in its lowerportion, as shown in Fig. 7, and of generally elliptical cross-sectionat its rearmost portion, as indicated in Fig. 6.

The conduit 21 passes over the radiator and engine (not shown) of theautomobile, and if desired, and in order to avoid transfer of heat fromthe radiator core and engine, the conduit may be suitably heatinsulated, or suitable heat-insulating means may be interposed betweenthe conduit and the radiator and engine.

The upper portion of the conduit 21 is supported by a collar or sleeve23 of sponge rubber or the like, which serves to cushion any shockswhich might otherwise be transmitted to the conduit, and to deaden anynoises which might be transmitted by the conduit. This sleeve or collar23 is encased within a metal sleeve 24 provided with a flange 25 fromwhich an car 26 depends. The ear 26 is secured, as by means of a bolt 27and nut 28 to one of the flanges of a channel beam 29, which issupported by and secured to, the hood 1 of the automobile.

The rear end of the conduit 21 is normally in axial alignment with ashort tubular member 30 of substantially the same cross-sectional shapeas the rear end of the conduit 21 and which is rigidly secured to thefire wall 3 of the automobile.

In order to provide an air-tight seal between the air outlet end oftheconduit 21 and the front or inlet end of the tubular member 30, apair of shields 31 and 32 is provided which surround the space betweenthe conduit 21 and member 30 and overlap the ends of said conduit andmember. The shields 31 and 32 are of substantially semi-ellipticalcross-section, and when the conduit 21 and member 30 are in axialalignment with each other, as in Fig. 3, these shields coniointly form atube which is coaxial with the conduit 21 and member 30. This seal ismade more effective by providing the inner surfaces of the shields '31and 32 with sponge rubber 33 or the like.

In order to permit relative movement between the conduit 21 and member30, as when the hood 1 is raised, the shield 31 is secured, as by meansof rivets 34, to the member 30, and the shield 32 is secured, as bymeans of rivets 35, to the conduit 21. This relative movement, in itsearly stages, is more or less diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 8,and in this connection, it will be noted that separation is effectedwith a minimum exposure of the joint or space between the ends of theconduit 21 and member 30. The sponge rubber linings 33 are alsoeffective in avoiding the transmission of vibration from the conduit 21to the tubular member 30.

Disposed behind the firewall 3 and underneath the cowl 2 is the aircontrol valve of the present invention. This valve comprises a cylinder36 which is rigidly supported by means of brackets 37 and 38, which areconnected, as by bolts 39, to parts of the automobile behind thedashboard, as indicated in Fig. 3.

The cylinder is provided in its bottom portion with an elongated airoutlet opening 40, and in its upper front portion with a similarelongated air inlet opening 41, which communicates with the tubularmember 30 by means of a conduit 42.

Disposed within each of the open ends of the cylinder 36 is a circularpath 43, each of which, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, isprovided with aplurality of circumferentiallyspaced sector-shaped openings 44. Theplates 43 are rigidly secured within the cylinder, as by welding, rivetsor the like. Extending axially through the cylinder 36 and with its endsjournalled in the plates 43, is a shaft 45. One end of the shaft 45extends beyond one of the plates 43 and has rigidly secured thereto asector-shaped crank 46, to which a Bowden wire 47 is secured, as at 48.This wire extends through a bushing 49, and to a knob or handle on thedashboard of the automobile, so that by V pushing or pulling on suchknob or handle, the shaft 45 may be rocked to a plurality ofpredetermined or selected positions.

Rigidly secured to the shaft 45 is a second cylinder 50 which isdisposed within the cylinder 36 and is concentric with the latter, beingprovided with ends 51 which are in contiguity with the plates 43, asbest seen in Fig. 5. Each of the ends 51 is provided with a plurality ofcircumferentially-spaced sector-shaped openings 52, the number ofopenings 52 in each end being equivalent to the number of openings 44 inthe contiguous plate 43. The portions of the ends 51 intermediate theopenings 52 form sectorshaped closure plates 53.

The cylinder 50 fits snugly within the cylinder 36 and hasdiametrically-opposite portions thereof cut away or removed to providean elongated air inlet opening 54 and an elongated air outlet opening55. Each of the openings 54 and 55 extends nearly one-fourth of thecircumference of the cylinder 50, as clearly shown in Figs. 9 and 10.

The ends of the cylinder 36 are adapted to be connected to theventilating blowers with which the automobile, in this case, a Chryslersedan, is usually equipped, connections to such blowers beingdiagrammatically indicated by the conduits 56 (Figs. 1 and 5), it beingunderstood, however, that the air may be passed directly into theinterior of the automobile from the ends of the cylinder 36 withoutpassing through blowers, if this is desired.

The use or operation of the ventilating system, as thus described, willbe fairly obvious, but may be briefly described as follows:

While the automobile is in motion, air will pass through the louvers 4and will pass into the air intake box, passing from such box upwardlythrough the filter 16 and into the conduit 21. Rain and moisture whichpasses through the louvers will strike the inclined rear wall 6 of theair intake box and fall by gravity to the bottom 7 of the box, passinginto the tube 10 and funnel 12, thence to the ground. Some of themoisture may condense on the lower surface of the filter 16, but suchmoisture will be removed in the same manner as the moisture whichstrikes the wall 6 of the air intake box. In any event, the air whichpasses through the filter 16 and into the conduit 21 will be free fromdirt, dust and moisture and in a condition well-suited for carventilation purposes.

In the position of the cylinder 50 shown in Fig. 3, which may bereferred to as the closed position, of the ventilator, the passage ofair from the conduit 42 into the cylinder 50 is blocked by the cylinder50, and, at the same time, the openings 44 in the plates 43 are blockedor closed by the portions 53 of the ends 51 of the cylinder 50, so thatair within the cylinder 50 cannot pass through the openings 44 andthence to the blowers. Moreover, the outlet opening in the cylinder 36is blocked by the cylinder 50, so that air from the cylinder cannot passthrough the opening 40.

Upon pulling the wire 47 to what may be referred to as the firstposition, the cylinder 50 assumes the position shown in Fig. 9 of thedrawings, in which position, the opening 54 of the cylinder 50 is inregistration with the opening 41 in the cylinder 36, so that air passesfrom the conduit 42 into the cylinder 50. At the same time, the openings52 in the ends 51 of the cylinder 50 are brought into registration withthe openings 44 in the plates 43, so that the aforesaid air can passinto the conduits 56 and thence to the blowers. It will be notedthat inthis position of the cylinder 50, the opening 40 in the cylinder 36 isblocked by the cylinder 50, so that all of the air entering thecylinder50 is forced to the blowers and no air can pass through the opening 40.

Upon pulling the wire 47 to what may be referredto as the secondposition, the cylinder 50 assumes the position shown in Figure 10 of thedrawings, in which position, the opening 54 of the cylinder 50 is stillin registra tion with the opening 41in the cylinder 36, sothat airpasses from the conduit 42 into the cylinder 50. At the same time, theportions 53 of the ends 51 of the cylinder 50 are brought intoregistration with the openings 44 in the plates 43, so that no air canpass into the conduits 56 and thence to the blowers. However, theopening of the cylinder 50 is brought into registration with the opening40 of the cylinder 36, so that all of the air entering the cylinder 50passes through the opening 40 and thence into the car.

It is thus seen that I have provided for a variety of ventilatingconditions, and that by utilizing positions of the cylinder 50intermediate those described, greater or lesser amounts of air can bebrought into the car, depending on weather requirements and drivingconditions.

The advantages of the present ventilation system will be readilyapparent. The air intake is located in the nose of the hood, and at asufficient distance from the road to insure against entry of road dustand dirt into the system. This location, moreover, is in an area of highair pressure, so that maximum efiiciency is obtained for the ventilationsystem as a whole.

With the aforesaid arrangement of the air intake, air is picked up athigh velocity when the car is in motion, so that the blowers to whichreference has been made need not be used, except when the car is parked,and could, in fact, be eliminated, thereby effecting a material savingin cost of the car.

The ventilation system, as previously stated, is virtually rainproof,and filtered air is available at all times, irrespective of weatherconditions.

The system is quickly and easily installed, and room for ease ofinstallation and servicing is provided by virtue of the fact that theair duct is spaced above the motor.

The air control valve has numerous advantages, among which may bementioned the fact that it handles not only filtered air which goes tothe blowers, but also filtered air which goes directly into the car andby-passes the blowers. The control valve, moreover, is extremely lightin weight, and is made of a minimum number of parts, which are easy tomanufacture and assemble. It can be quickly and easily installed, and isvirtually noise-free.

Among other advantages may be mentioned the fact that the control valvemay be installed within the car in about one hour, rattles areeliminated due to the simplicity of construction of the valve, a netsaving in weight of at least 8 pounds is effected, and driving hazardsare completely eliminated.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention, herewith shown anddescribed, is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and thatvarious changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may beresorted to, without departing from the spirit of my invention, or thescope of the subjoined claims.

The application is a division of my copending application, Serial No.10,645, filed February 25, 1948, now Patent No. 2,634,669.

I claim:

1. In a ventilation system for automobiles and the like, an elongatedcylinder extending transversely of the automobile, stationarilysupported on the automobile and having an elongated air inlet opening inits front wall, a conduit for admitting air into said opening, saidcylinder having a similar elongated air outlet opening in the bottomwall thereof, plates mounted in the ends of said cylinder, said plateshaving circumferentially-spaced air outlet openings therein, a secondcylinder disposed within said first cylinder and rotatable in said firstcylinder, said second cylinder having elongated air inlet and air outletopenings in diametrically-opposite walls thereof, said second cylinderhaving ends disposed in contiguous relation to the plates of said firstcylinder and having circumferentially-spaced air inlet openings in saidends equivalent in number and substantially coextensive in size with theair outlet openings in said plates.

2. A ventilation system, as defined in claim 1, and means for rotatingsaid second cylinder to a plurality of predetermined or preselectedpositions.

3. A ventilation system, as defined in claim 2, in which each of theopenings in the diametrically-opposite walls of said second cylinderextend circumferentially substantially twice the circumferential extentof each of the air inlet and air outlet openings in the wall of thefirst cylinder, and in which said second cylinder is rotatable to atleast three positions, in the first of which the passage of air from theconduit into the second cylinder is blocked by the second cylinder, theair outlet openings in the plates are blocked by the ends of the secondcylinder, and the elongated air outlet opening in the first cylinder isblocked by the second cylinder, in the second of which air passes fromsaid conduit through the elongated air inlet openings of both cylindersand from the second cylinder through said ends and plates, but theelongated air outlet opening of the first cylinder is blocked by thesecond cylinder, and in the third of which air passes from said conduitthrough the elongated air inlet openings of both cylinders and from thesecond cylinder through the elongated air outlet openings of bothcylinders, but the air outlet openings in the plates are blocked by theends of the second cylinder.

4. A ventilation system, as defined in claim 3, in which said secondcylinder is rigidly secured to a shaft which is journalled in the endsof the first cylinder.

5. A ventilation system, as defined in claim 4, in which said shaft hasa crank secured thereto, and a Bowden wire connects said crank with aknob or handle on the dashboard or instrument panel of the automobile.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS232,166 Bales Sept. 14, 1880 557,607 Reynolds Apr. 7, 1896 1,479,303Kirch Jan. 1, 1924 1,548,390 Schloe Aug. 4, 1925 1,666,569 Kelch et a1.Apr. 17, 1928 1,687,645 Diederich Oct. 16, 1928 2,116,981 Peo May 10,1938 2,309,202 Moore Jan. 26, 1943

